United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1796

United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1796

October 11, 1796

All 13 Pennsylvania seats to the United States House of Representatives   Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Last election 9 4 Seats won 7 6 Seat change 2 2

Elections to the United States House of Representatives in Pennsylvania were held on October 11, 1796 for the 5th Congress

Background

Thirteen Representatives (9 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) had been elected in 1794. One Representative, Daniel Hiester (DR) of the 5th district resigned on July 1, 1796. His seat was vacant at the time of the 1796 election, and was filled in a special election held at the same time.

Congressional districts

Pennsylvania was divided into 12 districts, one of which (the 4th) was a plural district, with 2 Representatives. These districts remained in use until redistricting after the Census of 1800.

• The 1st district consisted of the City of Philadelphia
• The 2nd district consisted of Philadelphia County
• The 3rd district consisted of Chester and Delaware Counties
• The 4th district (2 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Bucks and Northampton Counties
• The 5th district consisted of Berks and Luzerne County
• The 6th district consisted of Northumberland and Dauphin Counties
• The 7th district consisted of Lancaster County
• The 8th district consisted of York County
• The 9th district consisted of Mifflin and Cumberland County
• The 10th district consisted of Bedford, Huntingdon and Franklin Counties
• The 11th district consisted of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties
• The 12th district consisted of Allegheny and Washington Counties

The counties that made up the 5th district did not border each other. That district was therefore made up of two separate pieces rather than being a single contiguous entity

Note: Many of these counties covered much larger areas than they do today, having since been divided into numerous counties

Election results

11 incumbents (7 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) ran for re-election. Frederick Muhlenberg (DR) of the 2nd district did not run for re-election. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 9 (5 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) were re-elected. Overall, 7 Democratic-Republicans and 6 Federalists were elected, a net gain of 2 seats for the Federalists.

Special Elections

George Ege (F) of the 5th district resigned in October, 1797 and was replaced in a special election held October 10, 1797

With Hiester's election, the Democratic-Republicans gained 1 seat, increasing their majority to 8-5

John Swanwick (DR) of the 1st district died on August 1, 1798 and Samuel Sitgreaves (F) of the 4th district resigned on August 29, 1798. Special elections were held in those districts on October 9, 1798, the same day as the elections to the 6th Congress.

Both also won election to the 6th Congress. The 1st district changed from Democratic-Republican to Federalist while the 4th district changed from Federalist to Democratic-Republican, leaving no net change in seats for the remainder of the 5th Congress.

References

• Electoral data are from the Wilkes University Election Statistics Project

1. 1 2 Elected in subsequent special election